science

A new Comment piece in Nature argues we should “Ditch the 2 °C warming goal” as a basis for climate change policy. Their core argument, as Nature sums it up, is “Average global temperature is not a good indicator of planetary health. Track a range of vital signs instead.”[read more]

Researchers at InsideClimate News and the Center for Public Integrity have increasingly focused their attention on issues related to hydraulic fracturing. But the omission of research demonstrating safety or benign environmental impacts suggests they are pursuing a narrative of harm.[read more]

A new analysis recently published in Science concludes that more methane is leaking from natural gas wells and pipelines than the federal government has actually estimated, eroding some of the climate benefits of the cleaner-burning fuel.[read more]

Arizona is already staking out a leadership position in solar power, and now it’s looking to take the algae biofuel field by storm with a new $8 million Energy Department grant to the University of Arizona. The funding will enable UA to fine tune its proprietary algae farming system.[read more]

A team of scientists at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology has been tweaking the metabolic pathway of the notorious bacteria Escherichia coli to make it squeeze out gasoline. If you’re thinking that’s been done before, well, not exactly.[read more]

The activist talking point on well casing failures is not based on science or hard data. It is purely a manufactured story line; a series of misleading or outright false claims designed to instill doubt in the public’s mind about the safety of shale development.[read more]

A common talking point among critics of hydraulic fracturing is that they somehow own “the science” on shale development. The industry is merely raising doubt about scientific studies just enough to confuse the public and make them think there’s a legitimate debate.[read more]

I have written about beliefs and how they influence decisions. A case in point is the decision to close nuclear stations early in Germany. As we in the rest of the western world try and understand the the decision, we must remember that this plan started before Fukushima.[read more]

It is easy to become cynical in a world where there is little desire to believe in science and the search for truth about Nuclear Energy. Everyone can find someone to support his or her point of view.[read more]

In early September 2011, I attended the Brisbane Writer’s Festival and participated in a number of events. One was an excellent discussion with Ian Lowe, my co-author on the book “Why vs Why: Nuclear Power“, which unfortunately wasn’t recorded, but was a terrific exchange. The other was a joint session I did with Prof Brian Gaensler,...[read more]

When I jazz information up to present it in this blog, I’m aware translating science can be risky. When I started introducing myself as a journalist at parties, some people backed away. There’s a perception that professional communicators aren’t trustworthy – and that polishing information for presentation makes it less real or less...[read more]

"Science is not enough, religion is not enough, art is not enough, politics and economics are not enough, nor is love, nor is duty, nor is action however disinterested, nor, however sublime, is contemplation. Nothing short of everything will really do. We cannot reason ourselves out of our basic irrationality. All we can do is learn...[read more]

I don't usually care for the intellectual bandwidth of audio and video chats on commercial media but here's an impressive exception, about conspiracy thinking and denialism, following neatly on some of my observations about belief formation yesterday.Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economyAnother related...[read more]

Let's start at the very beginning. Every month we dig ourselves deeper in the hole. Every month the future bottleneck looks tighter, the future crisis deeper, the future losses more tragic. And for a few years, we have been out of the realm of the hypothetical, with real damage starting to occur.The changes we will need to avoid a...[read more]

Chris Mooney is valiantly attempting to understand the mindset of deniers, particularly those of the climate change stripe. In a new, longish piece in Mother Jones, he covers a lot of ground that will be familiar to many of you, dear readers. Chris wraps up an excellent overview of the situation: Given the power of our prior beliefs to...[read more]